The news of the Bengal Famine is, on the whole,
exceedingly bad. The Viceroy's weekly telegram, published on Saturday, and dated January 3, reports generally no improvement, but two telegrams from the Times' correspondent are full of hints of disaster. On January 5 he reports that "the inland streams are failing, and that drinking-water is scarce in many places," perhaps the most ominous sentences yet received. A decline of these streams of even four inches will render cultivation in the plains impossible, while if the shrunken torrent-beds which cover Behar are really dry, the wells will shrink rapidly with them. We will not be- lieve such a prospect as this sentence holds out till it is confirmed, but the same writer telegraphing two days later adds, "few cases of starvation are officially reported." That may mean "a few cases" in which case death has begun already—six weeks too soon —or it may mean that officials do not report the deaths which do occur. That is improbable, as the rule in India is, "Report the facts, pleasant or unpleasant;" but if there is any suppression, the reports of the missionaries posted in every county will very soon correct the deficiency. They know if the poor die of hunger.
The single bit of good intelligence in the whole week is that heavy rains have fallen in Rungpore.
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